A METAPHYSICAL mystery novel, set in the Arabian Gulf, by former Bahrain resident and creative talent Natasha Burge will hit the shelves next month.
The author has unveiled the front cover of the book to her fans and Instagram followers ahead of the release on September 17 through her publishing imprint Adazzle.
It was designed by artist Vicki Heath Silk.
The Way Out follows a young woman in a suq who sees a man in the crowd who cannot exist. It is Al Ghareeb – an ominous imaginary being from her childhood – and his appearance signals the start of an ordeal that will unravel her troubled life.
The fictional title was a longlist honouree for the Dzanc Prize for Fiction, created in 2006 to advance great writing across the US.
“It is a dark psychological thriller set in a fictional Arabian Gulf suq,” Ms Burge, whose family has lived in the Gulf for more than 60 years, told the GDN.
“Parts of the plot involve characters reflecting on the expat-and third-culture kid experience as well as the narrator struggling with mental illness. These two aspects were informed by my personal experience – but have been greatly dramatised for fictional intensity.
“The story races towards a mind-bending conclusion, with the fierce power of Helen Phillip’s The Need and the disorienting thrill of Laura van den Berg’s The Third Hotel,” the 42-year-old added.
The American expatriate attended Bahrain School in Juffair for two years and lived here again after finishing university and for work. She currently resides in neighbouring Saudi Arabia – where she was born and raised – with her husband Cody and their four cats.
Speaking about her journey writing the 232-page book, Ms Burge said: “I wrote this novel while doing my PhD and it took a while to come to fruition but when it did, it poured out of me very quickly. The spooky aspects of the plot grew more intense and evocative through various rounds of editing, and while none of the characters are inspired by anyone in real life, I tried to make their stories resonate realistically as each of them face their own personal challenges.
“What I most enjoyed about writing this book was the influence of surrealism, which meant the fictional city itself became a site of psychological drama for the character. Her reality begins to come undone at the seams as she teeters on the brink of something cataclysmic. I wanted to pull in the visceral, lived experience of mental health issues, to show how her entire life is saturated with turmoil while still offering the possibility of hope.”
At 37, Ms Burge received the ‘life-changing’ news that she was autistic, after a lifetime of issues with severe anxiety, and she draws a lot of inspiration for her books from her own experience.
She has come to learn that autism can be expressed and experienced in a vast variety of ways, especially for women who are good at ‘masking’ their difficulties – as a result, they’re often not diagnosed as having the condition.
Drifts, Ms Burge’s memoir, was released last year and explores autism and transcultural identity. It has many chapters set in Bahrain and features iconic locations such as the Muharraq Pearling Path, Manama Suq, the Dilmun Burial Mounds and the Qal’at Al Bahrain (fort).
For details, visit natashaburge.com. The Way Out lands on September 17 and will be available on Amazon.
melissa@gdnmedia.bh
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